SATs Year Two

Year 2 Assessment Information for parents and children

Your child will shortly be taking their SATs. We are really proud of how hard they have worked over the year and are sure they will do well. We have tried hard to prepare your child for the tests and they will be familiar with the style, content and marking schemes of the tests. We will be running SATs in a manner intended to cause as little stress and disruption to your child as possible and would appreciate parents' support in this as it will enable all children to perform at their best.

It would help us if you could make sure your child gets a good night’s sleep and eats breakfast before coming to school. Remembering their school water bottle would also be helpful so that they can keep hydrated.

We do not suggest ‘cramming’, particularly for Year 2 children, but two websites we can recommend for revision and parent information are: ‘The School Run’ and BBC Bitesize. We ask that you don’t go over last year’s papers with your child as we will be doing that in class.

The children are assessed in two ways - Teacher Assessment and SAT tests.

Teacher Assessment

Teacher assessment draws together everything the teacher knows about a child, including normal class lessons, observations, marked work and school assessments.

Teacher assessment is not a ‘snapshot’, like tests, and is therefore more reliable. Due to this there can be a difference between teacher assessment results and test levels.

We will assess their writing composition, so your child’s result for English writing will be a judgement of their work across all of Year 2 against national standard targets. Your child's grammar, punctuation and spelling skills will be assessed as part of their writing. Creativity and writing style will also be evaluated.

SAT tests

This year will be the second cohort to take the new SATs papers. These tests in English and Maths will reflect the new National Curriculum, and are intended to be more rigorous. There are no longer “levels” assigned to results and there is no separate higher level paper.

In the week children will sit tests in:

Reading

English grammar, punctuation and spelling

Maths

Key Stage 1 Reading SATs

The new reading test for Year 2 pupils will involve two separate papers:

Paper 1 consists of a selection of texts totalling 400 to 700 words, with questions interspersed

Paper 2 comprises a reading booklet of a selection of passages totalling 800 to 1100 words. Children will write their answers in a separate booklet

Each paper is worth 50% of the marks, and should take around 30 minutes, but children will not be strictly timed. The texts in the reading papers will cover a range of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. There will be a variety of question types.

Key Stage 1 Grammar, Spelling and Punctuation SATs

Children taking Key Stage 1 SATs will sit two separate papers in grammar, spelling and punctuation:

Paper 2: a grammar, punctuation and vocabulary test, in two sections of around 10 minutes each (with a break between, if necessary), worth 20 marks. This will involve a mixture of selecting the right answers e.g. through multiple choice, and writing short answers.

Key Stage 1 Maths SATs

The new Key Stage 1 maths test will comprise two papers:

Paper 1: arithmetic, worth 25 marks and taking around 15 minutes.

Paper 2: mathematical fluency, problem-solving and reasoning, worth 35 marks and taking 35 minutes, with a break if necessary. There will be a variety of question types. Children will not be able to use any tools such as calculators or number lines.

Timetable

As none of the Year 2 tests are strictly timed this removes an element of pressure from the children. We will be working on a fluid timetable in order to allow every child the best opportunity for success. We will not be using the school hall but some of the smaller rooms around the school with small groups of children in each as this will make it easier for the children to focus. Tests will be spread over the mornings of the week with plenty of time for brain breaks and rest between each.

Pupils who are ill on the day of a SATs test will be able to sit it within one week.

If there are any problems please let us know, we want all the children to feel that they can do their best. Many thanks for your continued support, please do come and see me if you need any further clarification.